Der Water Program May Be Drying Up

A motorboat appeared, at first hazy and then with detail and color. One man aboard dropped an anchor. The other lowered a shiny metal cylinder, waited, and scribbled in a notebook.

Then they motored back into the fog.

It was a strange sight, perhaps, to other boaters. Yet it was just another water sampling by the state Department of Environmental Regulation. For nearly two decades, DER crews have dipped into state waterways.

The DER sampling program has detected polluters. More notably, it has built a record of water quality that can be used to measure damage of sewage discharge, farm runoff, stormwater drainage and other pollutants.

But the coming decade might see blank pages in the record. Facing changes in technology and priorities, the DER has been revamping the bureaucracy for its 1,300 workers. The sampling program could be lost in a fog of what the DER calls efficiency measures.

That would leave the vast network of waterways in Lake County, one of the soggiest counties in Florida, without routine monitoring.

Top DER officials are to make final decisions in January, but DER Secretary Dale Twachtmann already has told assistants to work out details to transfer program employees.

DER biologists say halting the program would be shortsighted. Nobody knows the need for water quality records until one arises, such as checking results of restoration work or assessing pollution damage.

''We've developed expertise on water quality based on years of monitoring and it would be hard to make decisions without the huge data base,'' said Jim Holbert, the program manager for the DER's Central Florida district. ''Without the data we are just working with a crystal ball.''

State monitoring of Florida waterways began in 1972 as required by federal legislation. Monitoring was formally adopted by the DER program in 1983.

Program requirements vary among the DER's six districts. In the Central Florida district, more than 80 water sites are tested at least four times a year.

The district monitors basins of the Kissimmee River, the Oklawaha River, the St. Johns River, and the coastal basins of the Halifax River, Banana River, Indian River, Sebastian River and estuaries.

On a recent run up the Oklawaha River, which flows across Lake County from Lake Apopka to Lake Griffin, biologist Guy P. Hadley and technician Lou Ley stopped at 20 sites.

They checked water clarity and depth. Samples were taken for laboratory tests. They used an elaborate meter to measure acidity, dissolved oxygen, temperature and other factors. Data is stored in DER computers and by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The river, parts of which have been dredged, is fed by runoff of nearby muck farms and muck farms far upstream along Lake Apopka. As a result, some of the river is as foul as any in Central Florida. Only Lake Apopka and Lake Jessup south of Sanford have less clarity, as little as a few inches.

In the pristine waters of the Wekiva River, pollution would be more readily detected. But pollutants in the soupy Oklawaha River could go undetected, causing serious damage.

''If there's no monitoring program we won't know about a problem until it's too late,'' Hadley said.

Two years ago, samplings uncovered a problem in the Sebastian River on the east coast. Bacteria had increased, microscopic species were dying, and nitrogen and phosphorus levels were above normal. The river was becoming a broth unfit for fish and wildlife.

More testing led investigators to blame dairy cattle grazing along the river. Eventually a court order required the dairy to stop runoff from its fields.

Holbert said the program also has developed a useful history of Kissimmee River water quality. Several sewage treatment plants were barred from discharging into the river. That led to improved water quality.

Now the DER has data showing the river's natural water quality. Future discharges into the river, such as treated sewage, must be as good or better than the natural water quality, Holbert said.

The DER had about 300 employees when established in 1975. For years, its concern was basic environmental damage, such as dredging, erosion and sewage discharge.

Water monitoring has been a DER mainstay. But as biological and chemical analysis has become more sophisticated, DER has begun to check for hazardous waste, fuel tank leakage, stormwater pollution and other things.

Taking on more challenges has strained DER. Already the department, which has a $70 million operating budget, has handed work to other agencies. Some permitting for dredging and stormwater drainage was transferred to the St. Johns River Water Management District last year.

DER also wants to check with the water district, the state Department of Natural Resources and other agencies to be sure monitoring is not duplicated. For example, water districts monitor river basins being restored.